The Minister for Health, the Hon Albert Isola MP, today attended the first meeting of the re-formed GHA Board and welcomed the recently appointed Non-Executive Board Members.
The new Board of the GHA is accountable to the Ministry for Health through the Chair and is responsible for overall governance of the GHA, its strategic direction, and for its performance. The Director General and the GHA’s Executive team are responsible for the delivery of services and for the delivery of the overall organisational strategy and value for money. The new Board will hold the Director General and his team to account for delivery against the GHA’s strategic objectives, particularly focussing on improving health and healthcare outcomes for the population.
The Non-Executive Board members are:
1) Mr Ernest Lima – Vice Chair
2) Dr Norbert Borge
3) Mr Timothy Bristow
4) Mr Charles Lavarello
5) Mrs Jessica Montado
Chair of the Board, Professor Ian Cumming, said: ‘Our new Non-Executive Board members bring a wide range of skills and experience to the GHA that will be invaluable as we seek to implement the Reset, Restart and Recover strategy. We will be meeting for the first time as a Board at the end of the month with our work beginning in earnest from April.’
The Director General, Patrick Geoghegan, said: ‘As Director-General and on behalf of the executive team, we are delighted to be working alongside a group of people who will add great value in supporting the agenda of the GHA in responding to the health needs of our community.’
Minister for Health, the Hon Albert Isola, said: ‘I am truly appreciative that people of such high calibre have agreed to serve as Non-Executive members of the GHA Board. In addition to their individual backgrounds and expertise that they all bring to the Board, they all bring deep connections with the population of Gibraltar. I am confident that our landmark reforms to the GHA, of which these appointments are a key part, will deliver major improvements in healthcare provision to the population of Gibraltar as the “Reset, Restart and Recover” plans are implemented.’
Notes to Editors
Ernest Lima
Ernest Lima joined the Civil Service in 1972 and became the first Director of Finance when the GHA was created in 1988, a role he continued to fulfil until he retired in 2009. In 1991 he was appointed General Manager of the GHA. Ernest was appointed Chief Executive in 1999. In 2004, he was formally appointed Principal Secretary to the Minister for Health while continuing to retain a range of responsibilities within the Health Authority. His ex-officio appointments to various Boards included the GHA, the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Registration Board and Chair of both the Pharmaceutical Services Board and the Emergency Ambulance Services Board. In 2005, by Royal Appointment, Ernest was dignified as Member of the Most Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem in recognition of his involvement with various aspects of the St John Ambulance organisation in Gibraltar. In 2014 he received the Gibraltar Medallion of Distinction for services to Public Health.
Norbert Borge
Norbert qualified in 1975 from St Mary’s Hospital, London. He returned to Gibraltar in 1976 and worked in St Bernard’s Hospital where he became a fulltime General Practitioner. In 1980 In 1982 Norbert obtained the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians and in 1983 was employed as Senior Registrar in Internal and Respiratory Medicine at Central Middlesex Hospital, London. He also held honorary posts as Clinical Fellow in Renal Medicine at St Mary’s Hospital, London and as Honorary Senior Registrar in Neurology at Central Middlesex Hospital. In 1986 Norbert returned to Gibraltar to take up his final position as Consultant Physician in St Bernard’s Hospital and in 1998 was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2006 he retired from GHA employment and worked in General Practice. In 2015 he achieved Associateship of Cilex and started working in the Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Department of a Gibraltar law firm. Norbert retired from active medicine in 2017.
Timothy Bristow
Tim Bristow is an experienced businessman, holding executive and non-executive roles across a range of industries stretching from publically listed companies to start-up businesses. In his earlier career Tim held various senior positions in the UK, international and Gibraltar public sectors. In 2019, he stepped down as CEO of Gibtelecom, a position he took up after leading the merger and acquisition of Gibraltar Nynex Communications with Gibtel in the noughties. Tim was also the chairman trustee of the two Gibtelecom pension schemes, two of the largest Gibraltar based private sector pensions funds. From 2007 to 2013 Tim was a non-executive director of an online gaming business, bwin.party plc and before that PartyGaming plc, where he chaired their Ethics Committee and served on the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees. Tim is a former Financial and Development Secretary of Gibraltar, sitting as an ex-officio member in the parliamentary House of Assembly for over 10 years, and a position from which he led the licensing and regulation of the gaming industry to develop Gibraltar into the capital city of e-gaming it is today.
Charles Lavarello
Charlie is widely regarded as Gibraltar’s leading property lawyer, acting for developers, banks and other clients in real estate transactions. He has advised Government in relation to many Government-backed property schemes, and represented developers in some of Gibraltar’s largest development projects. He has been instructed by banks in relation to large financing projects and is knowledgeable on general commercial matters. Charlie read law in London at Kingston University, completed his Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law, and was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in 1989. Charlie has been a board member of the Gibraltar Health Authority since 1996. He is also a Trustee of the John Mackintosh Trust and the Loreto Convent School Trust. He previously sat as a member of the board of the Port Authority, and has acted as Chairman of the Rent Tribunal.
Jessica Montado
Jessica Montado is a retired Senior Civil Servant with over 36 years experience. Her knowledge of working practices within the civil service is extensive having worked in five different government departments during the course of career. The last fifteen years of her career were dedicated to government finances. She is knowledgeable in the working practices of both Government and the GHA as she formed part of the GHA finance team as Deputy Head of Finance and retired as Head of Finance almost three years ago. Jessica will undertake inspection of the GHA finance and procurement practices within her remit as Board Member.
ENDS
